Two girls out to save the world  Sweet!

By
L.A. Parker, The Trentonian

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Nina Burden and Emma Bowers share a pie in the sky idea that they can change the world.

It’s not really pie, it’s cupcakes, so far about 8,000 baked, topped with fluffs of icing, drizzled with miniature candy hearts then sold or given away in an effort to help Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts, plus, a number of other worthy causes.

Inside their family’s Columbus kitchens, this dynamic duo bake and dream as siblings, parents and pets swirl around them. Inside their hearts, this fascinating pair of soulmates have discovered life’s wonderful gift of love.

Their star-crossed worlds mix Julia Child’s “Joy of Cooking” with Giles Andreae’s ‘Love is a Handful of Honey.” Pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes then Presto! Change-oh, how sweet love is.

First, Two Girls and Their Cupcakes had been a money-making business but Hurricane Sandy changed everything. New Jersey’s most devastating storm produced a game-change and name-change. The mega storm delivered a life-altering experience for two ten-year-old St. Mary’s Elementary School fifth graders.

“After Hurricane Sandy, we couldn’t build houses. And we couldn’t go out and clean up a lot of the beaches, But we could bake cupcakes. So, that’s what we wanted to do to help the hurricane victims,” Burden explained.

They laughed about their first Two Girls and Their Cupcakes assignment when they baked 100 cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day. Those cupcakes were gobbled up by loving grandparents and other relatives.

“There was cake mix every where. It was a mess,” Burden said.

“Actually, it was the disaster before the hurricane disaster,” Bowers joked.

The girls changed their initiative to “Operation Cupcake” after Sandy struck. Hundreds of cupcakes had given them the experienced needed to perform much of their duties without adult supervision.

Emma’s mother, Nancy Bowers, said the girls have everything in order.

“Now, they do everything on their own. The only thing I do is put the cupcakes in the oven. And then take them out. They do just about everything else,” Nancy Bowers praised.

While nibbly morsels of cupcakes end up in stomachs throughout New Jersey, Emma Bowers and Nina Burden are leaving their marks almost everywhere.

Their baked goods have reached the Red Cross, soldiers helping with shore relief areas, as well as, retirement homes.

Bake sales have raised enough money to purchase 12 microwave ovens, four coffee makers, and three crock pots. A raffle raised $1.000 for a flamingo-pink Kitchenaid mixer. Hometown Heroes, a charity that helps people in need that were affected by Hurricane Sandy, matched that Operation Cupcake windfall.

When Home Depot heard that the girls were planning to purchase two refrigerators that would be awarded to Hurricane Sandy victims, the company said they would add another refrigerator to the girls’ effort.

With so much sweetness, love and incredible stories being told inside the Bowers’ kitchen, one half-expected “Maria” to fall out of a broom closet for a verse or two of her “Favorite Things.”

“Young girls with bright smiles inside this warm kitchen.

Big dreams and cupcakes are what they keep pitchin’.

Emma is mixing and Nina, she sings.

These are a few of my favorite things.”

OK. OK. Back to this better than half-baked enterprise.

When they talk about “altruism”, a word offered by both Nancy Bowers and Rosemary Burden, Nina’s mother, an overwhelming feeling erupted that these small girls are doing more than most for the world.

They giggle about almost everything, Smile about almost everything else. Arguments come and go, lasting as long as it takes for them to come up with their next daydream for helping others.

The girls both agreed that their argument total had reached a low-water mark of two. Maybe three. All smoothed over like resolution frosting.

“What do we get out of it,” Nina Burden repeated.

“Cupcakes. Smiles,” she said.The world, their world, once limited to the confines of Columbus, Burlington County or summer trips to the shore, now stretches as far as the heart can reach.

One thing is for certain, Nina Burden and Emma Bowers will never look the same way at Belmar, Long Beach Island, or Brigantine.

Those splendid summer stops will never look the same for me, especially not after meeting these girls.

One can not predict how long their ad-venture will last. Life happens, sometimes like Hurricane Sandy other times like melting snow.

They may dabble in cupcakes today but their tomorrows offer promised days of love.

Andreae penned these beautiful words.

“And then when your stomachs are grumbly, love is unwrapping your treats, and love’s stuffing everything in all at once leaving masses of mess on your cheeks.”

Enjoy the sweet icing days of youth, girls.

May they follow you into tomorrow and decades beyond.

You have unleashed God’s great gift of giving.

For every question, storm, defeat, triumph, and miscalcualtion in life, always remember: love is the answer.

L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Reach him at laparker@Trentonian.com.